World Superbike Assen Results

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Yamaha Motor Italia's Ben Spies won World Superbike Race 1 in Assen. The win would be his fourth this season.

Yamaha Motor Italia’s Ben Spies and Xerox Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga both took home wins during Sunday’s World Superbike motorcycle races at the Circuit van Drenthe in Assen, the Netherlands.

In Race 1, Spies started from pole position aboard his 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 courtesy of Saturday’s Superpole win (his fourth of the year). Spies led the first half of the 22-lap race until Haga and Stiggy Honda CBR1000RR pilot Leon Haslam came flying by pushing him to third. The three riders then began pulling a gap from the rest of the field. As the race wound down to the last few laps, Spies put a move on Haslam. Haslam retaliated holding off Spies for a few more turns before finally conceding the position.

On the final lap, Spies went for it and passed Haga in an ultra-fast section of the 2.8-mile track and took the checkered flag a scant two tenths of a second in front of Haga. Haslam would finish less than a second behind them with Spies teammate Tom Skyes finishing fourth, almost 9 seconds behind. Biaggi brought home the all-new Aprilia RSV4 Factory in fifth.

Ben Spies, Winner, Yamaha Motor Italia: "I was trying to set a really good pace in the first few laps, but just didn't have the same feeling I had in practice with the bike, and Nori came by and I saw nobody was behind Haslam, so I just sat back and watched. When the tyres started going off we made some moves, there were some close moments with Leon but we kept it clean. I knew I had to go and I fought it out with Nori over the last two laps. Actually I didn't know where to pass Nori, but I got a good run and it was close."

Noriyuki Haga, Second Place, Xerox Ducati: "I am a little bit disappointed but we did a very good race. I got a good start but just at the beginning of the race Ben was quite faster and I tried to catch up with him. It was difficult because I had a little problem with the bike. I caught up again and passed him and tried to push but couldn't. So at this point I just lost a few points for the championship."

Leon Haslam, Third Place, Stiggy Honda: "I felt really good to be fair, the race pace was good and I was just sitting behind Nori. I was losing a lot of time out of the hairpin and onto the start-finish straight and was trying to match Nori through there and the next minute me and Spies had a good elbow session but it was a fantastic race and again a big thanks to the team to give me a package to do that."

In Race 2 it was Spies again out in front after Lap 1. This time however the Texan would end up crashing on the start

In Race 2, Haga took over the lead from Spies on the second lap, after the American crashed. Haga would remain unchallenged for the rest of the race. His win would be his fourth this year.

of the next lap handing the lead over to Haga. Biaggi would also retire on the same lap with some sort of mechanical problem with his Aprilia motorcycle.

Back up front it was Haga followed by his Xerox Ducati teammate Michel Fabrizio, Haslam, and Guandalini Racing Ducati's Jakub Smrz.

On Lap 13, Haslam would slide his CBR1000RR past Fabrizio’s Ducati 1098R good for second place and on the final lap Smrz would sneak by Fabrizio for third, his best finish of the year. Fifth was Hanspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea followed by fellow British motorcycle racer Sykes.

Noriyuki Haga, Winner, Xerox Ducati: "First of all, I'm sorry for Ben and his crash, I hope he is fine. After the first race we changed the suspension a little bit and the bike was really comfortable, so a big thanks to everyone in the team. I think it's nine years since I won here, in 2000, so I'm very happy and now I'm looking forward to Monza."

Leon Haslam, Second Place, Stiggy Honda: "I was a little bit ambitious into the first turn but I thought the pace was OK. I rose through to pass Fabrizio, but it took me a lot of the race and when I finally did get past, there wasn't much left and maybe with the cooler conditions the grip wasn't quite so high. I made a few little mistakes but managed to get enough of a break to run into second."

Jakub Smrz, Third Place, Guandalini Racing Ducati: "I was just staying behind Michel and he had a problem or something, it was really close but I could just pass him at the finish. I'm really happy because everybody said before that I can be fast only in qualifying, so now I showed everyone that I can be fast in the race as well and it's a great result for me and the team."

mashew monshero
-BEN is sick !!
May 4, 2009 09:23 PM
I am actually hoping he takes the title this year. But it seems though besides Haga beating him, he is more like beating him self. In my opinion, though season is still in its early stage, if he wants to win the crown,from here on out, HE MUST NOT MAKE ANY MORE MISTAKE. Haga is absolute riding with perfection (Ducati Team effort), he should settle down and some times 20 points or the second place is so important for this title fight. Anyhow, I also beleive Biaggi, Troy, and Haslam will be there to mix it up as well. His Team mate Sykes is getting better as well. Anyhow, YO BEN !!, if you can read this, Take home the title already, show the world that products of AMA dont play.

texas gsxr rider
-yup! on Ben's methods
May 2, 2009 10:24 AM
they call it "win it or bin it!" go for it baby - second place is just the first loser - I'm going FAST momma!

krash
-durkadurkajihad
April 27, 2009 07:35 PM
I disagree with the comment about there being no competition but Spies and Haga. Haslam has shown he is game, and the CBR 1000 seems to be dialed in now, so we should see more of him up front. It is true that both Ben and Nori have been taking the wins thus far, but keep in mind that Biagi's Aprilia is a brand new machine so it should be showing continuous improvment as we get farther into the season. This will be nothing like last year's AMA racing in which every race wwas strictly between Spies and Mladin.

beavis
-AMA all over again
April 27, 2009 10:24 AM
The racing is good, but there are really only two guys capable of winning races: Spies and Haga.

EWL
-win or DNF
April 27, 2009 09:20 AM
Yes, ben's results remind me of haga's riding last year for yahama: podium finishes or DNFs. I for one have been surprised by Haga's consistent riding this season (thus far).

waszak
-Ben
April 27, 2009 04:58 AM
What a sweet first race! Thats the way they all should be. Ben's got some serious skills as long as he stays shiny-side-up.